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The Doctrine of Names | 7 comments (5 topical, 2 editorial, 0 pending)

Naming the Outers ( 4.66 / 3 ) (#5)
by Darcy Woodall on Fri Apr 26th, 2002 at 18:24:11 EDT
(User Info) http://www.elemental-astrology.com

I have a wicked book buying addiction and almost always I have a few books which having once caught my fancy in a book store, made it home only to languish unread on my bookshelves. Recently, I hauled one of them out -- A Volume 2 (I don't own Vol 1) of Hermetic Astrology: Astrological Biography by a Robert Powell. Actually, it is really a book of Astrosophy, the sidereal astrology inspired by Rudolf Steiner. At any rate, the book is chock full of post-mortem astrology, which relies, according to this system, on the positions of the outer planets in the sidereal zodiac as markers of past and future lives but that is a whole other matter! Possible past and future lives are not something that I think about too much as this present one is plenty interesting -- but in the back of the book, there is a gem of a chapter. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto: the confrontation with Evil. In it he proposes that the 3 outers were in fact hastily misnamed and by following an Orphic geneology of the 7 original Planets, they should in fact should have been named Ouranus (Uranus) and represents 'trapped light', Nyx (Neptune),signifiying 'trapped sound,' and Phanes (Pluto), as 'trapped life.' While I do not have an opinion on this yet -- I find myself drawn to the possibilities (and the images, especially in relationship to technoloigcal and idealogical discoveries associated with the outers) described by this schema to understand the collective archaic dimensions of the outer Planets. And then, there is always the Richard Tarnas / Liz Greene depictions of Uranus as Prometheus, which does seem to have some merit as well. It may well take several more hundred years of watching these planets before we really begin to understand them.

All this to say, I am deeply attached to a reconciliation with the ambiguity which seems to lie at the very heart of astrology. In Kabbalalistic thought, the word 'tohu' -- usually translated as 'chaos' designates a state of undefined mystic creativity from which a healing bifurcation, a 'tikkun' brings order. Tohu is the unstable bifurcation point which is part of the anxiety making for growth, for the completion of the bifurcation; that is the spontaneous emergence of a new order. Every time we encounter something 'new' be it a planet, or a relationship between planets -- it behooves us to stand back and watch, and instead of trying to second-guess it and fit it into some sort of pre-concieved box, and ask -- what is this new phenomenon trying to say?

Finally, it seems to me, that the adding of more and more bodies to a horoscope serves to keep (me anyway) on the surface of the matter I am investigating. I found it to be a very interesting and productive exersize to learn to read a chart using only the Sun, Moon and five visible planets. My understanding of them deepened, I 'remembered' significations which had somehow been taken away and given to one or more of the outer planets. I was also forced to ask, what is it that is really 'new' about all these new bodies. There must be -- but, I am not so sure we know yet what that is.

Onomancy ( 4.50 / 2 ) (#6)
by Ailouros tou Dwdekawrou on Fri Apr 26th, 2002 at 22:57:51 EDT
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I had a long talk once with Jacob Schwartz about his theory of asteroids. He told me that the beauty of asteroid names is that in contrast to the planets, the asteroids are no longer names for mythological beings but names of regular persons. He said this elevates the human being to the heavens. I think this explanation answers to your question of narcissism - a pedestrian heaven. Further Jacob Schwartz predicted that Bush would win the election because Bush was in a aspectual relation to Washingtonia (btw, why did they try to Latinate Washington?) This shows a treatment of asteroids as planets - having meaning through aspects not just to planets but among themselves. If you know what you are looking for, you will find 'related' asteroids in aspect to nearly everything. What happens if you or your loved one has not made it yet to the heavens? Wait another few years for meaning? Petition the astronomers?

Students might wonder if I am upsetting the whole applecart. After all, Mercury is mercurial and Mars is martial. Does my skepticism about names mean that I reject all the conventional associations of astrology? Not at all. I assume that the names of the seven visible bodies were chosen after many generations of practical experience with them

I think the qualities of the planets were partially determined by their physical appearance and behavior. Saturn was dim, lacking light - hence malefic. Venus very bright, a rival to the Sun. Jupiter golden. On a positive note, the asteroids can act as an oracle - though an unsystematic one. I would be far more willing to consult the I-Ching when looking for an oracle rather than onomomancy. Though it makes use of celestial bodies, it only detracts from astrology. I would also add that in the Greek namings of the planets, which happened around the time of Plato (mentioned in his student's work, Epinomis), some of the major Olympian gods were left out. Athena, Hera, Hephaistio to name a few. Jupiter/Zeus was, of course, the supreme Olympiad, but he became no more powerful under the new-fangled astrology. Being true to Greek mythology was apparently not a major consideration for the Hellenistic who were finally taking the Chaldeans seriously.

Fortunately, this is not what happened with Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Although attempts are occasionally made to explain Uranus and (less often) Neptune by appealing to classical mythology, and although lip service is always granted to Pluto as "Lord of the Underworld", the interpretation of the modern bodies has developed gradually out of the workaday experience of practitioners.

Charles Carter wrote in Principles of Astrology (1963, 5th edition) about Pluto,

"Preliminary observations, based on such data as are available, lead the present writer to consider that its action is such as to cause hidden and subterranean states to break forth or erupt, like earthquakes or volcanoes, bringing about a climax in the life with much disturbance and upheaval, followed by calmer and more wholesome considition."

This very well could be the first delineation of Pluto that really stuck. The first edition was 1925 and this was probably added in the third (1939).

The first fallacy - that the English language, including English misreadings of non-English names, is a privileged conduit between human consciousness and the cosmos - is patently absurd.

Yes, the gods speak koinê.

The second fallacy is that "bodies" are the sole key to understanding, so only by having more bodies in the horoscope can we hope to find more meaning therein. This notion has become credible

There is an odd parallel to the Gnostics who populated the heavens with thousands of archons - but these were not visible bodies. Presence of a physical body was not particularly important for the Hellenistic astrologers who invented Lots for every topic and who calculated the dodekatamoria (like a 12th harmonic) for the planets. Thank you for a thought-provoking article.

The Doctrine of Names ( 4.00 / 1 ) (#4)
by deenag on Thu Apr 25th, 2002 at 22:51:55 EDT
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I think this is a terrific piece -- obviously I support Harvey's stand. But it's a good, pleasantly acid piece of writing and full of information without being pedantic.

Asteroid names ( 4.00 / 1 ) (#3)
by Ray Murphy (ray@urania_post.office) on Wed Apr 24th, 2002 at 19:22:26 EDT
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I agree with Axel's convincing argument entirely and have never used asteroids; but I have tracked Chiron in relation to many "important event dates" in rectification, and it has popped up at some interesting times in relation to people's health, but probably no more than one would expect by chance if the truth be known.

It seems that some astrologers actually DO have a fair amount of success by using asteroids and other things which have not been universally accepted as "astrology" but I suggest that some of that success is brought about by what amounts to ESP - whereby the astrologer uses the asteroid (and what it stands for in their minds) to zero-in on correct answers somehow; in fact I think this same thing happens with ~some~ parts of conventional astrology at times - which could explain why the intermediate House cusps can be made to "work" with any House system.

No, I don't think the Cosmos has appointed the English language as the preferred one, nor do I think it changed over to the Gregorian calendar for Numerology exponents upon Papal decree.

Ray

Disturbance of the Peace ( none / 0 ) (#7)
by Anonymous Hero on Sat May 8th, 2004 at 21:11:26 EDT

Words are the trails to images.
Images are the traps of meaning.
Follow words to gather images. When one has the images what need is there for words?
Gather the images to encompass the meaning.
When one has encompassed the meaning, what need is there for images?
Meaning is the essence of relativity, and a disturbance of peace and silence!

The Doctrine of Names | 7 comments (5 topical, 2 editorial, 0 pending)

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